First and Foremost
by MakingMatcha
Summary: The gradual progression of Jack Frost and Toothiana. Drabble series.
1. Crush

Toothiana is, above all things, the memory guardian. She oversees the collection of children's teeth and keeps safe their most precious memories. On some nights, nowadays, she even collects them herself. She flits unseen through the window, slips her hand expertly beneath the pillow, and hums a gentle lullaby, careful not to wake a soul. She holds the tooth and smiles as it sparkles in white moonlight, leaves a coin, and feels a sense of warm fulfillment as she moves to the next house. First and foremost, she is the Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies, and she does her job efficiently and without fail.

But there are other things, other parts of her, too. One such part, very small and pushed to the back of her being, is the part that has a crush on another guardian. It's the part that makes sure she _personally_ oversees the tooth collection in the little town of Burgess, just in case they cross paths. Sometimes it's the part that forces her to remain in the Tooth Palace, sending other fairies to collect the Burgess-children's teeth, just so that she _won't_ accidentally cross paths with Jack Frost. It's the part of her that thinks of his teeth, and smiles, and makes her hummingbird heartbeat quicken whenever she hears his voice–_"Hey, Tooth! Busy night?"_–and the part that over the course of several years has been growing.

But she ignores it most days, because, first and foremost, she is the memory guardian, and she must collect the teeth.

* * *

Jack is, above all things, the guardian of snowballs and funtimes. He shepherds the winter winds, brings the blizzards, and bestows a sparkle of joy on the bitter weather around the world. He doesn't have that many believers, yet, but they are there, and it means the world to him when they tell the other children his story. It's a cold kind of relief to the sting of loneliness–300 years that slowly trickle away when young eyes grow bright with recognition as he flies by. He tells himself–and it's so very true–that even if it were just _one_, even if it were only _Jamie_ who saw him, who believed–it would be more than enough. He is grateful to have just one, and he is grateful to have just ten, and after many years, he is grateful to have just a thousand, just a million. Just like that, the pain is all but erased. And because he doesn't _just_ have the children, either–he has a family now.

The guardians don't meet often over the years, but when they do, they are family and they greet each other with warm voices and bright smiles. First and foremost, Jack loves the children. Secondly, Jack loves his family. And then there is a very small part, one he doesn't quite understand, that notices the tooth fairy's little crush. That part makes his heart beat a little quicker. She'd hugged him, he remembered, and it was when she'd pulled back that he'd noticed. (Oh. _Oh_. Oh? A _crush_? On _me_?) It was adorable, and he pushed it from his mind, because really, what did he know about girls, and crushes–he just wanted to have fun.

He never teased her, not once, no matter how painfully obvious she was. Because he wasn't sure, and he'd never say, but there may possibly have been another teensy tiny part of Jack, the part that blushed and stammered sometimes (_rarely_), the part that noticed how she caught the light, the part that noticed how her smile was the slightest bit crooked–this was the part of Jack that _maybe_ possibly... liked her in return. He kept that part carefully hidden over the years, as he found his place in the world, among the guardians, with the children.

Because he wasn't, _couldn't_ be sure. And he was, first and foremost, the guardian of fun.


	2. Green

_Year 3_

* * *

When Jack Frost breezed into North's workshop early one spring morning, he didn't expect the place to be _deserted_. Well, not deserted, he realized as the big man himself walked down the hall toward him, arms open wide for a bone-crushing hug. But the yetis were gone, and the elves were scarce, and everything was... quiet.

"Ah, but Jack!" North greeted, hugging the boy briefly (for which Jack was grateful, he liked his skeleton the way it was, thankyou). "You are early!"

"Where is everyone?" Jack glanced around, unused to seeing the place so still.

"Yetis take day off. Is rare, but good. Guardian meeting is not til much, much later. Which does not mean you are not welcome to stay!" The man gestured to the empty workshop. "Make self at home, yes?" Jack chuckled.

"Actually, I do have a couple things to take care of. Flurries here and there, you know."

"Ah, yes, good. Cause snow, come back later, we have meeting." North smiled and moved to clap him on the shoulder. Jack braced himself for the usual impact, surprised when the cossack pinched his arm lightly before clapping him on the back.

"Hey–what was that for?" North just laughed deeply, holding his belly before walking toward his office.

"See you, Jack Frost!" Jack chuckled and headed off.

* * *

Jack was busy dusting flurries over a forest in West Virginia when he realized and consequently remembered why he avoided America in the month of March.

He had dropped to the ground to inspect his snow (and frost a few trees for good measure), when the sound of merry, maniacal laughter echoed in the woods around him. He stood up straight, brandishing his staff, and looked around. The sound got closer.

"Oh no..."

Before he could react, something small darted by and pinched his bare ankle.

"Ow!" Jack swung his staff at the little green blur, which bounced off a branch to promptly pinch his arm, hard.

"_Seriously?_" he cried, launching into the air. "Every year? Come on, man!" The Leprechaun just laughed, took a puff on his pipe, and pranced off into the trees. Jack grumbled to himself, and headed back to the pole.

* * *

Jack brushed the dead grass out of his hair upon arrival, his only pinching-defense ruined by the wintry climate. North greeted him and the others loudly as they arrived.

"Welcome, friends! Party can begin! Who is wanting whiskey!"

"Woop!" Jack yelped as something pinched him on the behind.

"_Girls!_" Tooth screeched, horrified. "That was incredibly rude!" A small cloud of mini-fairies fluttered by, giggling. Among them, Baby Tooth squeaked indignantly, scolding the offending fairy, who didn't look the least bit sorry.

"I'm so sorry, Jack!" Tooth said with a nervous laugh, pulling him into a quick hug before hovering over to greet North; her cheeks were flaming. Jack was about to laugh, but a paw pinched him hard on the ear.

"_Ow!" _He whirled around as Bunny hopped by, his usual leather gear decked out in emeralds.

"Afternoon, Frostbite," the pooka greeted with a smirk. Sandman floated by, merely patting Jack on the shoulder before going to the drinks table. He grabbed two shots, quickly downing both before grabbing two more and sitting comfortably on a dreamsand chair. Jack watched with amusement when he realized the Sandman wasn't wearing any green, either.

"How come nobody's pinching _him?" _he challenged. Bunny chuckled.

"Try it, mate." Jack raised an eyebrow at Bunny's tone and reached forward. Sandy batted him away with a flick of dreamsand. The golden man smirked and wagged his finger before going back to his drinks.

"Well that's completely fair," Jack grumbled.

"Ah, Jack, do not worry, I have green hat you could borrow–" Jack laughed.

"No, North, don't worry about it. Green's not my color." From her position next to her queen, Baby Tooth came fluttering over, smiling cheerfully at him before attaching herself to his shoulder. "Well, _usually_," Jack amended, scratching her head affectionately.

The evening went on smoothly, filling with the sound of yetis as they shuffled in to partake in the merriment, and the impressively loud sound of North's laughter, joined by Bunny, the only two drunks at the party. A handful of other colorful spirits drifted in, some Jack recognized, some he didn't. Among them was the Leprechaun himself, and his laughter was the merriest of all. Jack rolled his eyes, but went over to say hello, just to be polite. He sputtered when the little man pinched him.

"Um, ex_cuse_ you, I'm actually wearing green now!" Jack said, pointing to Baby Tooth on his shoulder, who smiled and waved.

"Doesn't count, Jack m'lad!" the little man laughed. "Ye can't count the green someone else is already wearin!" Jack looked at Baby Tooth's plumage and sighed dramatically. She shrugged apologetically and fluttered off.

"Fine, fine," he agreed dejectedly; would this never end?

"And aren't you the loveliest vision, m'lady!" the Leprechaun gushed as Tooth approached. She giggled and held out her feathered hand for him to kiss. "A vision in green of a fairy queen!"

"Oh stop, you," she laughed, looking over at Jack's _totally-not-jealous_ expression. She turned to face Jack and smiled, which he couldn't help but return.

"Here." Tooth placed one hand on his shoulder for balance and reached behind herself. She plucked a feather from her train–medium length in a lush green. Jack bent his head forward so she could fasten it to his hair, her fingers brushing white locks behind his ear and moving to rest gently at the side of his face. He was distantly aware of the warmth of his cheeks as she smiled at him.

"There," she said, "now you're almost as pretty as I am." They laughed at that together for a moment, foreheads brushing.

"Maybe someday I'll be as humble," he teased.

"Oh, you don't like it?" Tooth reached to take the feather back.

"No!" Jack laughed, reaching up to protect it and catching her hand there instead. "No, I love it," he said, pulling her hand to his face. He kissed her fingertips, and she _giggled_, drawing her other hand to cover her fluttering heart. Jack laughed with her and they swayed in the crowd.

"And the best o' luck to ye, in _all_ yer endeavors." They looked down just in time to see the little leprechaun tip his green bowler hat and wink before disappearing in a poof of glitter. Jack snorted.

"Ahhh, I hate that guy," he said as Tooth leaned casually on his shoulder. Baby Tooth hovered by, took one look at Jack, and rolled her eyes at her mother.

"What?" Tooth defended. "I think green looks nice on him." Baby Tooth shook her head and fluttered away to join her sisters.

"Want to blow this place and go have some real fun?" Jack asked. Toothiana turned to him.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Anything," he replied with a frown. "It's so _stuffy_ in here." She smiled and hovered above the crowd, pulling him by the hand. Jack glanced down at North and Bunny, swaying drunkenly and singing off-key while Sandy laughed silently at them.

"Yeah, they'll be fine," Tooth agreed, following his gaze.

They snuck out through a skylight to sit on the domed roof, watching the stars and the northern lights dance across the sky until the party was long over.

Sandy was the one who discovered them still perched up there, fast asleep, Jack resting against her shoulder with one of her proud feathers gleaming in his hair.

The Sandman grinned, downed his last shot of whiskey, and floated away to begin his work.

* * *

**Not a huge fan of this holiday, but inspiration struck and I wrote this. And yes, I have a considerable amount of drabbles lined up, and will continue...**


	3. Because

_Year 4_

* * *

The other spirits were whispering about it long after the St. Patrick's Day gathering.

It probably didn't help that Jack kept the feather. Tooth had placed it in his hair, and there it stayed, gleaming in the light against his snowy head. Jack liked to think of it as a present, like some pretty trinket the queen had chosen just for him.

Unfortunately, he was right.

Toothiana hadn't thought about it beforehand, no sir, hadn't considered giving Jack one of her feathers as a gift, and certainly hadn't imagined what he'd look like with her feathers in his hair, nope. Which is why, when the moment had arrived, she hadn't known _exactly_ specifically which feather in her tail was just the right shape, length, and shade of green to fit nicely into his white locks. _Not at all._ It was okay, though, she told herself. He probably had no idea the significance of the gift, anyway, and she could pass the Leprechaun off as an excuse. But she hadn't considered the other spirits and what they would think, and the next year, when Jack showed up with her gift in his hair, they started to talk, and glare with jealous eyes.

"Who is this young whipper-snapper," they said, "wearing a feather from the queen of tooth fairies herself?"

"How in the world did the Frost whelp earn _her_ favor?"

"Why would she pick someone so pale?" they whispered. "So like Death?"

Jack didn't seem to hear them, but Toothiana did. They accosted her before she even had a chance to say hello to him.

"_Queen_ Toothiana," they emphasized. "Why on _earth_, and in the name of the Moon, are you with _Jack Frost_?"

Her lips thinned. She did realize, of course, that Bunny hadn't been the only immortal to think lowly of dear Jack. She had forgotten, though, that those who weren't involved in the battle of belief hadn't had their minds changed. So Tooth dignified them with an answer, sticking up her pointed chin and hovering just a little higher than was considered polite.

"Because he makes me laugh. Because he makes me feel young. Because he proved himself in defeating Pitch and deserves as much respect as I have."

_Because he reminded me what it meant to be a guardian._

_Because he makes me feel beautiful on the inside, too, not just the pretty treasure so many of you take me for._

_Because have you _seen_ him, when the light hits his eyes and smile just right? _

She kept all the other reasons quietly to herself while the other spirits grumbled and dispersed.

"Why the long face?" Her thoughtful frown faded as Jack floated over, wearing a grin that gleamed to rival the feather in his hair.

"Are you going to ask me if I want to get out of here and have some real fun, or does that part come later?" she muttered into his ear when they embraced.

"Bored already?" he whispered back, his breath ruffling her feathers. Her smile was tight when she pulled back. He cocked his head in confusion but allowed her to lead him away from the party. He could feel the other spirits' eyes on him as they left together.

They flew in silence for a long time. Tooth was still tugging him along before she realized her hand was in Jack's. She glanced back, blushed apologetically, and let go.

"Sorry," she laughed, falling back beside him. He shook his head at her with a smile.

"It's okay, I didn't...mind."

"That I forcefully dragged you away?" Jack shrugged, smiling, and fell behind her again.

_Because he allows me to lead_.

They ended up back at the Tooth Palace, shrouded in thick mist in the moonlight.

"Baby Tooth wasn't expecting me back for a while," Tooth explained, leading him down, "so I can probably afford to rest a while longer."

The fairy traffic swirled around them as they descended to the grotto below. They settled near the water where it was quiet. The pool glowed a faint blue, and little fairy lights hung in the air above like stars. The nighttime ambiance was, to say the least, encouraging, so Jack sidled a little closer to her. Tooth smiled. Jack smiled back a bit bashfully, teeth sparkling.

"I've never been here at night before."

"Not what you expected?"

"I don't know, I guess I hadn't thought it would be so pretty," he laughed. "I mean it's pretty in the daylight, but it's a lot... quieter now." Tooth hummed in agreement, dipping her toes in the water. Jack fidgeted, and stretched his own legs out, bare heels making an icy footrest on the pond's surface. He eventually abandoned that in favor of sitting cross-legged. After a time, he reached up and pulled her feather from his hair.

"Is this some kind of... does this mean something?" he asked, holding the feather up to her. Tooth's wings drummed against her back while she pursed her lips.

"Why do you ask?"

"I just heard people talking, back there." She looked over at him, concerned, but Jack seemed more amused than anything.

"Were they rude?" she worried. He half-shrugged in a "sort-of" gesture. Tooth's face fell.

"Nothing I'm not used to. You know, the guardians weren't the _only_ immortals I shunned in my lonely years," he explained, thumbing the barbs of the feather. "I think most of those old geezers are just offended that Man in Moon chose me so young." Toothiana chuckled with him.

"No, it_ is_ pretty much my fault for giving you that," she said. Jack perked up.

"So... it _does_ mean something?" Tooth bit her lip, blushed, and swung her legs in the pond. The ripples threw reflections on the cave walls, on Jack's curious expression. She looked at him sideways through her long lashes.

"Means I like you." Jack smiled warmly at her.

"Well, I _knew_ that," he half-teased, taking her small hand in his. In the blue light, she couldn't see the faint blush darkening his face.

The humming of tiny wings broke their silence as several shapes floated down from above. Tooth sighed and rose into the air, letting go of Jack's hand.

"Well, it's back to work for me." She smiled apologetically, but Jack nodded.

"I should get going, too," he said, standing. He jumped into the air. Tooth laughed and chased him to the top of the palace.

_Because, like me, he never keeps still._

Mini-fairies hovered around him in a giggling cloud while he made a show of sticking her feather back in his hair.

"You don't have to keep it, you know," Tooth called softly, drifting toward where work was waiting. He smirked down at her.

"But I like it! And besides, it makes me almost as pretty as you!" he called back, then sped away before she could respond.

It was just as well, because she hovered there, speechless and smiling stupidly until Baby Tooth floated impatiently in front of her face, tapping her tiny foot in midair. Tooth rolled her eyes, a teenager caught swooning.

"Oh, hush, you," she said, grabbing Baby Tooth's beak affectionately. "I've been holed up here with you all for over 440 years; I'm entitled to a little extra attention." The little fairy shook her head, but smiled at her mother, and the two fluttered to the main nest to continue the night's work.

* * *

**Follow up to _Green_, because it needed to continue. Thank you for your reviews, you're all lovely!**


	4. Memory

_Year 1_

* * *

The Northern Hemisphere's summer was in full-swing when Jack started to get lonely.

After the fall of the Nightmare King, the guardians had spent a grand total of two days together before splitting off to get back to their work. There were tooth-boxes to reorganize, dreams to sow, toys to build, and belief to restore all around; they didn't have much time to celebrate their fifth member. North had reassured him they would, eventually, after things quieted down, maybe even after Christmas that year. He'd promised.

"No, that's okay," Jack had said. "I don't need a celebration, I just... well... I thought we'd have more time..."

"Time passes, mate," Bunny said. "We don't get together often, but time passes more quickly than ya realize."

"You can always come visit us!" Tooth piped in, and squeezed his hand. The others nodded vehemently in agreement, and shortly after that they said their goodbyes.

It didn't bother Jack as much as he'd thought it would; after all, kids could see him now! And he had Jamie, and Jamie's friends, and Jack would never _ever_ get bored of snowball fights. But as he prepared to move south for the season, Jack found himself missing them, his newfound, dare he call them, family.

He deliberated for a few days, wondering who he could drop in on. They'd said he could visit, hadn't they? It wouldn't be weird for him to just... show up, would it? Perhaps he needed an excuse. Jack put his hands in his pockets to think, when his hand touched something metallic.

He pulled the tooth box out and looked fondly at the cover.

"Tooth probably needs all these accounted for," he said to himself with a smile. It was a good excuse to see her, and... it was probably time to part with his memories.

* * *

"Oh Jack!" Tooth chirped when she noticed him swoop in and land on one of the lower platforms. She conveyed a few more instructions to her girls before fluttering over. The crowd of excited fairies buzzing around him parted to let her through.

"Come on now, girls, give him some air," she chided. Jack just grinned sheepishly.

"No, it's okay," he said, and shuffled his feet. "I really don't mind the attention."

Tooth pursed her lips almost guiltily and, to his surprise, reached over to pull him into a hug. It was awkward–a bit stiff on his end, because he still wasn't used to the contact–but it was something. When she pulled back, just as suddenly, he was smiling that same dreamy smile he'd worn for her the previous Easter. Tooth coughed politely and tucked a feather back into her crown.

"So," she began, folding her arms behind her. "What brings you to the Tooth Palace? Not that_ I _mind the attention," she added quickly with what she hoped was a playful smirk. Jack chuckled at her and smirked back, making her heart flutter. He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well actually," he said, reaching into his hoodie pocket, "I know how you like to stay organized, and you've got a system here and I just kind of felt bad keeping these..." He trailed off, and withdrew the tooth box. He glanced over it fondly before holding it out to her. "So I'm giving these back."

Tooth's smile was warm with understanding.

"Jack... if you really need to, you can keep them." He shook his head slowly. "I really don't mind. Besides, I know you'll return them. I trust you."

The way she said those last few words caused him to lift his head and look her in the eye. The way she was biting the inside of her cheek made it seem almost apologetic. _She was apologizing for doubting him, last Easter._

"Thanks, Tooth," he said softly, but held the box out further. "But I think I'm done. I don't really want to dwell on it too much, y'know? My life before... this." He half-gestured to himself, and Tooth smiled sadly.

"I understand, Jack," she responded quietly, and placed her small hands over his to take the box from him. "But if you ever need to see them, all you need to do is a–"

The moment his hands left the box, it dropped to the floor with a heavy clang. Tooth's eyes were glassy and her open hands trembled.

"Tooth?" Jack took a half step forward, hesitant. The fairy shuddered and dropped to her feet. Several mini-fairies swooped in to retrieve the dropped tooth-box. "Tooth, are you okay?" Jack reached down to touch her shoulders, when she came back to herself with a gasp, startling him. She looked up at him, wide eyes welling up.

"Oh, Jack," she said thickly.

"What?"

"Oh I really didn't mean to, they just slip out sometimes," she babbled, and then, quietly, "You loved your sister very much."

Jack closed up immediately, his posture rigid.

"Did... did you just look at my memories?"

"No no, oh, _no_, Jack, I didn't mean to–Jack, I'm sorry," she placated, rising into the air to place her hands gently on his face. Jack would not look at her. "I forget, sometimes–I'm really sensitive to the memories, the strong ones," she explained, trying to find his eyes, hidden under his snowy bangs. "I wasn't trying to intrude, I promise." She took a shaky breath and looked down, surprised when she heard his quiet laugh.

"No, it's... it's okay." He blew out a heavy breath and met her gaze. "It's not a sad memory at all. It's just thinking about it... _now_... that hurts." Tooth cocked her head, reminding him so much of a bird that he almost laughed again. "Just the implications I guess. I could have passed her by a million times without knowing." Jack paused to chew his lip, biting back the dam of emotion threatening to break.

"Because you couldn't remember? After you were chosen?"

Jack laughed harshly, humorlessly.

"Yeah... 'chosen.' We'll go with that." He looked her in the eye, and she saw so much sadness there that she pulled him in for another tight embrace. He leaned into her and squeezed his eyes shut.

"I think... I think I remember." He swallowed. "It was so long ago, but I think she used to come to the pond." Jack stopped to disguise a sob as a laugh. Tooth gently rubbed his back, trying to offer what comfort she could. She was no stranger to missing family, herself. "But maybe that's better, that I didn't remember." He breathed evenly through his nose. "She wouldn't have been able to see me. And that would've killed me. Well, _again_."

Tooth's hands stilled at his words.

"Again?" she murmured. That sounded a little strange, and the word stuck in her mind. _Again._

She didn't dwell on it, though, and simply hugged him until he felt better. They hovered there long enough that mini-fairies began to cluster around, nuzzling his neck affectionately and running their long beaks through his hair. Eventually Tooth heard him chuckle through his sniffles.

"Thanks, girls," he said, and finally pulled away. Tooth smiled at him.

"Any time, Jack," she responded encouragingly, before realizing that her fingertips were idly caressing his neck, and _goodness_ that was not proper tooth-fairy behaviour. She jerked her hands back so suddenly it shocked him, seeing as his were still comfortably nestled in the feathers at her waist. Jack hastily put his arms at his sides and... was that a blush she saw? _Toothiana you're imagining things,_ she chided herself. Jack's smile wasn't awkward at all, was it?

"So yeah, there's that, and I should probably head out. You're really busy, right?" he said, a little too loud. It took her a long second to respond.

"Ah... yes! Yes, I've got Central America to cover, and the entire state of Texas, and a ton of molars in Santa Cruz for some reason, and–"

Jack laughed at her sudden enthusiasm. "I'll let you get to it, then." He jumped into the air, and Tooth waved with her cloud of attending mini-fairies.

"Bye Jack! Don't be a stranger!"

"Thanks, Tooth!" he called, before disappearing on the wind. Toothiana's smile was slow to fade as she hovered back up to the nest.

* * *

Days later, his words still stuck in her mind. "_It would have killed me. Well, again_." It stirred something, something that was escaping her, a memory, someone else's... She thought about what she'd briefly seen through his eyes.

He'd liked climbing trees, and making trouble, and when he was ten his sister was born, and from then on his entire world revolved around her. And the memories stopped when he lost his last baby tooth, when he was thirteen.

Toothiana perched on a gilded branch in the center nest and crossed her arms.

What was _missing!_ The way Jack had talked, it was like he was remembering something else, something that wasn't there in the teeth.

"Something must've happened after that... Ooh, I hate forgetting things!" Tooth muttered. She never forgot a child in all her long years doing this job, and her face screwed up in concentration. Baby Tooth hovered over with a concerned chirp. "Oh, it's nothing, Baby Tooth, I just–" Tooth looked up. Baby Tooth blinked at her while she squinted, finally noticing the birthmark, so tiny next to the mini fairy's magenta eye. It was familiar. She _never_ forgot a child, and she'd seen her just days before, in Jack's memories.

Toothiana didn't need to fly down to the storage archives of the deceased, because she remembered her, this little girl, whose stored memories were half-happy and half-sad. Tooth remembered this particular girl with the birthmark and the particularly strong memory her teeth contained, of the day she watched her big brother–_her best friend, her entire world_–fall through the ice and drown. He had been a lively boy of barely eighteen, and even when she had begun to forget his face, _she never stopped missing her Jack._

_Even when, one night so many years later, she ran to the pond crying and thought she saw–but no, that was impossible, there were no such things as ghosts, and she cried harder because she thought her grief was actually driving her mad. Soon it wouldn't be just "We all miss him, dear, but it's past time to move on." Soon the whole village would ostracize her, she'd be kicked out and ridiculed, because now she was hallucinating. _

_She froze when two bare feet stopped in front of her and the ghostly figure knelt on the ice. She would not look up. He was leaning down, trying to see her face. She would not look up. She did not want to see his eyes frozen blue, skin pale and dead and... _

_His white hand reached out to her, hesitantly, as if afraid to touch her. She choked on a sob. The hand jerked back, fist closing. When the hand turned over and opened, there was a perfect snowflake resting on his palm. Lips tinged blue with frostbite blew the snowflake from his hand, and she blinked as it settled on her nose. _

_It was cold. It reminded her of how he used to tweak her nose. She found herself letting out a chuckle instead of a sob. She watched carefully from under her bangs as the ghost smiled–tinged with sadness–and then laughed when she laughed, laughter so painfully familiar she almost believed he was real. When she stood up, he hastily backed away, up and into the air. As if he wanted to avoid touching her. _

_She looked down at her feet, blinking back tears again. In her peripheral vision, she saw the ghostly figure wave the crook of his staff as he hovered higher, tattered edges of a once-familiar cloak flickering in the breeze. Snowflakes began to fall, light and fluffy against her hair where he used to ruffle it fondly. _

_She smiled–a big one, a real one, the first in a long, long time–and turned from the lake. _

_Maybe she was ready to move on._

_"Thank you, Jack," she whispered, but he was probably too far away to hear her._

Tooth gasped as the vision finally faded, replaced by at least a dozen mini-fairies worriedly staring at their queen.

"Oh..." She stood tenderly, massaging her head. She had fallen off her perch. "Oh, I'm sorry girls, that memory was really... strong..."

It was an understatement. Those teeth were dead, and locked in a box far below the palace, and they had still called out to her.

"Oh, Jack," Tooth murmured, finally understanding, and her eyes welled up.

Baby Tooth chirped, mismatched eyes filled with concern.

"I'm okay, Baby Tooth." Tooth gazed at her little clone, taking in the gold feather, the one icy blue eye, the birthmark... and the oddly familiar way her little lips quirked when she smiled. Toothiana pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"You're fond of Jack, aren't you?"

Around her, the other mini-fairies swooned and sighed and giggled at the mere sound of Jack's name, but not Baby Tooth. She looked at her queen and nodded once and smiled a secret smile.

* * *

**Ehhh, not too thrilled with the outcome, but it was something I wanted to get out of my system before posting some of the others I have written.**

**Also note that I'm not going in chronological order with these. This drabble would probably be their first encounter after the end of the film, taking place before _Green_ and _Because. _I'm going to try to go in order chronologically as much as I can, though, so I'll be sure to note any out-of-orders.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Meaning

_Year 1_

* * *

He was thinking about how she was always the one to initiate contact. Even back when he bristled at anything that was more than a slight nudge, Tooth had put her hand on his shoulder. Just like that, without prompting, without even being aware of how touch-starved Jack actually was.

It wasn't as if he _craved_ contact–the thing that he'd wanted most (and still wanted) was the children's attention. He wanted to be _seen_. He wanted to be _recognized_. He wanted to _play_. Which was why, after everything, Tooth's embrace hadn't shocked him, not like Jamie's had.

Maybe he had still been waiting to be run through. Or maybe Jamie's warm arms around his waist had reminded him so much of his sister that he stumbled, having to swallow the emotion, before returning the hug. Whichever it was, it held greater significance than Tooth's brief little squeeze. And all of her shoulder touches. And warm smiles. And pretty blushes.

_Damn it_, Jack thought. The children, he kept repeating to himself, the children were more important. Snowball fights. Sledding. Cancelled school days. These were the things his life revolved around. Not...

"It's not a crush," Jack said out loud to himself. "It's just a..."

The wind rushed into his sleeves as he flew, trying to tickle him. Jack laughed.

"Ah-a thing. It's just a thing." The breeze tugged at his hair, leading him north over the Pacific Ocean.

The wind muttered.

"What do you mean _what kind of thing_, it's just–a thing! I-I don't know, like..." He rolled onto his back and looked up through the mist. "A _nice_ thing," Jack said, after some thought. "It's nice. I have people who care about me now."

The wind threw him, jealously.

"Hey! I know, I know, I've always had you, and it's been awesome, but come on, Wind, real hugs! Warm ones!"

Jack laughed at the wind's sardonic reply.

"Warmth isn't so bad every once in a while. Besides," he grinned, "when you have a little warmth, you get to appreciate the cold that much more."

Satisfied, the wind tousled his hair and propelled him up into the clouds.

"And hugs are pretty great, too." He was still thinking of that moment, one Easter ago. Of all the little moments. He was thinking of her tiny fingers prying his mouth open–twice!–and her hand constantly on his shoulder, and her arms catching him when he fell. He thought of Tooth twirling him around and hugging him. He thought of her consoling embrace, last summer, her hands always on his shoulders.

"Didn't mean anything." He seated himself comfortably on a puffy grey cloud. "I mean, it was so quick. It couldn't have _meant_ anything." He still dwelled on that first hug.

The wind whispered something, and Jack mouthed the words to himself, thinking them over.

_Does everything have to mean something to be meaningful?_

Jack frowned.

"But she let go after, like, a second!" And yet, he remembered the way her gaze had locked on his, the eternity he saw there, in her eyes. _Her hands gently on his neck, in the summer._

Jack stood and stirred the cloud with his staff. He couldn't help it–that dreamy smile was sliding back onto his face like it belonged there.

The wind tugged, and he left the clouds just as it began to snow. He touched down over the pacific-northwest and steadied himself on a branch of pine.

"It was just a hug," he said conversationally, but the smile would not relent. "And the kids are more important anyway." But he was grinning now, and the wind was dancing with the fat, fluffy snowflakes drifting in the air. Jack shook his head and chuckled, all the while struggling to dispel the thought, but it was more than just a thought. It was a simple truth.

"She likes me," he finally whispered, and then loudly, "She _likes_ me!"

Jack looked up to the darkening sky, where the snow was falling fast and thick and _beautiful_.

"She's warm and she's beautiful and she _likes_ me."

One of his own snowflakes settled on his nose. Jack laughed at the sparkle of magic there. He flung himself into the sky and tore north and eastward, toward the pole. It was the day after Christmas, and the others were waiting. _Tooth_ was waiting.

* * *

**This one's a shorty, sorry~**

**BUT it'll have a continuation that shouldn't take too long to write, so you can look forward to that. (you'll notice I don't have an update schedule at all. whoops!)**

**Thank you for reading and reviewing!**


	6. Celebrate

_Year 1_

* * *

"Maybe he forgot."

Toothiana had resorted to picking at the feathers on her wrists. She was perched atop the arm of a sofa in North's largest sitting area. Next to her sat a dejected Sandman and a _very_ grumpy Bunny.

"Maybe he's not coming," he grumbled.

"Or _maybe_," Tooth responded, a note of warning in her voice, "he forgot."

"Yeah," Bunny countered. "On purpose."

Tooth made a frustrated sound. She jumped to her wings to hover in front of the rabbit's face, her feathers puffing angrily. They were all a little high-strung from the wait–several hours now–and disappointed because, darn it, they had worked so _hard_ on those decorations!

"Now _listen here_, I thought we were all done thinking the worst of him!" Tooth hissed. Sandy looked on in concerned amazement as Bunny got right into her face with a retort.

"No, sheila, _you_ listen! I'm not thinkin' worse of 'im, I'm just being realistic!" He jerked his furry thumb at his chest for emphasis. "He's been alone for three-'undred years, during which we utterly ignored 'im, and now we expect 'im to be all _chummy_?"

"Yes, Bunny, we all feel _guilty_ about that," Tooth said tersely, pinching the bridge of her nose. "But isn't that all the more reason for him to show up now? We're here for him _now_, he knows that!"

"Does he!" Bunny exclaimed, standing up and sending Tooth backwards in the air. There was a pause, and North stepped in.

"Is probably my fault," the large man said from where he had been pacing before. "I only told him once, probably slipped mind, or–"

"We're arguing!" the fairy and the pooka rounded on him, cutting him off before whirling back to each other.

North's blue eyes bugged, and he looked over to exchange a glance with Sandy. The little man had floated in a sitting position off the couch and was leaning as far away from the fight as possible. His bewildered expression at North seemed to say, "See? This is why we don't do reunions." North could only sigh in agreement.

"All I'm sayin' is," Bunnymund was shouting over Tooth's shrill protests, "it's been, what, over half a _year_ and we 'aven't gotten a single peep from 'im! Not one bit of contact! He's ignorin' us! We made 'im a guardian, invited 'im for tea, and 'e's _ignorin_' us, Tooth!"

The fairy fluttered back for a moment, startled by the hurt in the pooka's voice. Bunny really _did_ want to make amends. Her face softened, and after that outburst, the tension in the room diffused.

"Well, he visited _me_," she said calmly, as if that would make anything better. Suddenly all eyes focused on her, and Bunny scowled.

"Are you kiddin' me. All of ya?" Bunny gestured to the other two with an accusing paw. They all exchanged an awkward glance. Sandy shook his head slowly.

"No!" North said with a frown. "Have not seen Jack! Not since Easter. Neither have Yetis!"

All eyes turned to Tooth again, with great curiosity. The queen grew self-conscious under their scrutiny.

"He-he hasn't visited any of you?"

Bunny raised a furry eyebrow at her, and Tooth prayed they would mistake her blush for her usual rosy complexion.

"Toothieeeeee?" North prompted. Sandy pursed his lips to hide his smirk.

"Just...! He...!" Tooth puffed up her feathers in self-defense. "He just wanted to return his teeth!" she blurted quickly. "He felt bad keeping them and handed them back for proper cataloging! That's all!"

"Mm-hmmm," Bunny grumbled, unconvinced. "Not just to see ya or anything."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" she challenged.

"Nothin, Tooth! You two did seem awful _close_ though, if ya catch my drift." Tooth looked to North, who looked away, refusing to take part in the argument.

"I-we're..._friends_, Bunny!"

"An' as a friend, he felt it necessary to _personally_ give you back his teeth." The rabbit's smirk only fueled her agitation.

"It's a perfectly valid excu-_reason_," she corrected, "to show up at my palace." Tooth lifted her chin and hoped that would be that.

It wasn't.

The other three seemed to share a chuckle, and Sandy signed something Tooth didn't catch, despite all her years of knowing him.

"What?"

"He said, 'did you hug 'im?'" Bunny clarified, enjoying the torture. North, unable to hold back any longer, laughed boisterously at her expense.

"Ye-_no_!," she sputtered. "Yes, I did, but that's entirely beside the point! That's _friend_ stuff!"

Bunny fell back onto the couch behind him, properly laughing his tail off. It was a good minute before North chided him.

"Come now, Bunny, is not nice to tease." Tooth watched Bunny laughing it up and her expression darkened dangerously.

When the pooka was finally able to meet her glare, he was not facing Tooth, but the Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies. His laughter died.

"Erm, Tooth?"

"Girls!" she commanded, and at her tone four mini-fairies appeared from behind her and fluttered forward. Bunny swallowed. "Sick 'im."

They dove forward and pecked him mercilessly in the chest and stomach, causing him to howl with laughter. Sandy joined North on Tooth's other side and watched with no small amount of satisfaction.

"Oi, oi, _oi_-ha HA! Tooth make 'em stop, ack that _tickles_, _stop_!"

"Tooth," North chided.

"You know what they say, North," she said, loudly so Bunny could hear through his yelping laughter. "Payback's a _b_-"

"Hey, I hope I'm not late–what." Jack appeared behind them, bits of snow falling from his shoulders. "Is going on in here," he deadpanned.

Everyone stopped and put on a smile. The mini-fairies went from attack-mode to swoon-mode and swarmed Jack–much to Bunny's relief. The pooka slid off his seat to the floor and breathed finally.

"Jack!" Tooth greeted, and darted over.

She swooped in to give him a hug, but caught herself and swooped away again just as he reached for her. The result was very awkward, and Jack's arms snapped to his sides as the others came toward him eagerly. He only had a second to glance at her lip-chewing and gaze-avoiding–what was that about?–before North enveloped him in a bone-crushing embrace.

"Oof!"

"Jack! You made it! We worried you had forgotten!" The large man finally let him go and Jack dropped back to the ground with a laugh. Sandy put a warm hand on his arm and smiled brightly as Bunny loped over.

"So ya decided to show up after all, eh?" Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Wow, cottontail, what's got your ears in a knot?"

"Frostbite, do you have _any_ idea how long you've made us wait?" Bunny growled.

"Bunny," Tooth muttered a warning, and Bunny's ears lowered meekly at the unspoken threat.

"Hey, sorry, man, I had some snow to take care of! I know must be _hard_ to believe, but even I get busy," Jack retorted.

"Is all right, Jack, you are here now!" North said quickly, to prevent further argument. "And now!" he bellowed, stepping back and gesturing to the room grandly. "We celebrate! Music!"

From somewhere a melody started playing, some old jazzy tune that crackled out of a well-loved record player. But Jack wasn't paying attention to the music.

He wandered forward, eyes lost in the magnificence of the room, tall wood-beamed ceiling bedecked with banners, garlands, snowflakes, icicles, lights–and everything was white and blue, a very specific shade of blue. Jack stepped toward the center table, which was utterly _overflowing_ with food. In the middle of the table was a small ice sculpture of himself, reaching for a snowflake that hung from the high ceiling. His fingers brushed the delicately carved crook of the ice-staff. When had North had the time to put all this together, so close after Christmas? Jack smiled, touched, and turned back to the others. They were gathered in a huddle, watching him expectantly, hopefully. They wanted him to like it. Jack supressed a chuckle.

"Is this..." He half gestured behind him. "Is all this for-for me?" There was something thick in his throat that he tried to swallow, but the emotion crept up his throat anyway and into his eyes.

The other four exchanged a really big toothy grin.

"Of course is for you!" North boomed. "You are guardian! We finally celebrate!"

"Congratulations, Jack!" Tooth chirped, and they all gathered around him to hug him and ruffle his hair as if he'd always belonged with them. Even Bunny smiled, and fondly punched him on the shoulder. It was attention, and it was overwhelming. Jack's every instinct was telling him to bolt, especially when he found himself hastily wiping tears from his eyes, but he forced himself to endure it. It was the best feeling in the world.

"Jack," Tooth said gently. "Are you okay?" He laughed, sniffed, and furiously rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah! No, I'm sorry, thank you, guys, this is awesome! I've never had a party before." He looked up at all of them. They exchanged a sad glance, and Sandy put a consoling hand on his arm. He could practically feel the guilt rolling off of them.

"Jack–" Bunny started; Jack was having none of it.

"Wow okay, are we gonna have fun or not?" he said, stepping out of their circle. North picked up Jack's hint, and laughed.

"Yes!" the Russian boomed. "Turn up music, bring out cake! Friends, eat, drink!"

At his command, they dispersed and swarmed the food table, piling their plates high with the Yetis' fantastic cooking.

* * *

**ehehe, sorry that took longer than expected. Also the ending felt really abrupt. I didn't want to go into the actual party, but if there is demand for it, I will. There will be other parties, though!**

**thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys rock!**


	7. Party

_Year 1_

* * *

Being an immortal spirit had its perks, and being able to go without sleep was certainly one of them. They managed to celebrate for almost a full two days. Only Sandy would slip outside occasionally to continue his work, and Tooth would excuse herself to instruct her fairies every so often.

Jack ate his weight in ice cream, much to Tooth's dismay, and Sandy drank _North's _weight in eggnog, much to no one's surprise. The yetis, too, came in to enjoy the party, and with the help of a snowglobe, so did Jamie and Sophie. North told stories, Bunny told jokes, and Sandy played an excellent game of charades. A good time was had by all.

After the kids left, North brought out the vodka.

Bunny rolled his eyes, Sandy applauded with childlike glee, and Jack graciously declined.

"What is wrong? Is too strong for you, Jack?"

"I just don't feel up to it tonight–you guys enjoy, though!" he said, and excused himself to go look for Tooth.

She had been gone a while, no doubt tending to the fairies, but Jack worried nonetheless. She hadn't seemed quite as bubbly the past two days.

He found her on an upper level of the workshop, perched on the railing and looking up to where a waning moon peeked through the skylight.

"Everything okay?"

"Of course!" was Tooth's immediate response, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Her wings beat to life, lifting her off the railing, but Jack was already sitting down next to her.

"You seem a little off," he said. Toothiana sat back down.

She shrugged slightly and looked up at him, her expression neutral. He stared back at her for a moment, and she didn't miss how his lips kept twitching, like he was keeping a secret.

She didn't pry. She had to keep from twitching, too, gazing at him this way. The feathers on her arms fluffed and her shoulders tensed with the urge to fly. _No, with the urge to reach out and touch him_. She hadn't hugged him properly yet, and since their last meeting she'd almost come to expect it.

Tooth looked down suddenly, questioning herself. Was that wrong, to expect something like that of him? She wondered if he needed space. She _could_ be a little overbearing at times.

Her violet eyes flicked back to him when she realized he hadn't stopped staring, something similar to wonder on his face. She remembered that look, and smiled slowly at him. When he gave her a small grin in return, her breath caught and she clasped her hands tightly over her knee, resisting the urge to reach for his teeth. After all, it was _rude_ to stick your fingers into someone else's mouth, even if you were the Tooth Fairy herself!

They both looked away, suddenly flustered.

"You and Bunny were kind of at it tonight," Jack remarked casually. Tooth smiled tightly and placed her hands on either side of her.

"He was being a jerk."

"Yeah," Jack said, eyebrows raised, "I noticed. What... happened?"

Tooth looked down, blushed, and then started laughing.

"What?"

"It just seems really ridiculous now, that's all. He was really upset earlier and then he was teasing me about it, and the whole point is that he's jealous that you came to visit me. Bunnymund is _jealous_ of me." She shook her feathered head and laughed again.

"I was... returning my teeth, though," Jack defended quietly.

"Oh, I know! No, of course, I know you wouldn't have a reason to visit me otherwise! Why else would you visit me? Bunny sort of misinterpreted–well, they all did, but I know it was just a friendly-_businessy_ type visit, nothing else. I mean no one ever visits me otherwise. No one ever visits any of us, really," she babbled.

As she chattered on nervously, Jack mimicked her posture, putting his hands on either side of himself, and slowly inched his hand across the railing until his fingers lay next to hers. Just to reassure her that it was maybe only _mostly_ a friendly-businessy type visit.

"And North was just saying how-ah... um..." She glanced down at their hands. "How you forgot and um..." She swallowed, and then turned to him.

"Jack... Bunny really wants you to visit him."

Jack laughed.

"What? Why?" he scoffed.

Tooth smiled sadly.

"The thing is, Jack, you're not the only one who's lonely."

Jack jerked back in defense.

"Who says I'm lonely? I'm fine, I have believers now, I'm-" Tooth chased his hand and took it in both of her own; it shocked him into silence.

"Jack," she said, "We take our jobs very seriously. So seriously that we forget to enjoy them. We forget to enjoy each other." She brushed her thumb over his knuckles, and he couldn't help but blush at the contact. "We get lonely too, Jack, and... he's too stuck up to say anything, but I think you should visit Bunny sometime soon. And me," she added quickly, and then just as quickly, "and North and Sandy, too."

Jack smiled at her.

"Okay, but... can things not be so serious next time?" he said quietly, referring to their previous encounter. Tooth's brow furrowed at the memory.

"I don't want to be sad anymore. And neither should you guys. Even if you feel bad about... me. _I'm_ done being sad."

They fell into a brief silence during which Jack was incredibly conscious of the way it took both her hands to envelop one of his.

"Alright," Tooth agreed finally. "No more sad." She squeezed his hand and let go. Jack discreetly cradled that hand in his other, marveling at the warm sensation lingering there. She met his eyes and they shared a smile.

Jack had to laugh at her when her eyes flicked down to his teeth. She craned her neck and fiddled with her fingertips and her wide amethyst eyes flicked between his eyes and his smile, begging for permission. Jack gave her a dramatic eyeroll.

"Oh, for MiM's sake," he teased, and opened his mouth. Tooth _squealed_ and stuck her fingers in.

"I'm sorry, Jack," she was saying as she poked at his incisors.

"Er nah horry ah all," Jack accused.

"No, you're right, I'm not even a little bit sorry. They're just so _pretty_," she sighed.

"Ah-hah," Jack grumbled.

Finally Tooth withdrew, looking incredibly pleased. Jack quickly licked his teeth, and they held one another's gaze for a moment. She tilted her head, and then seemed to catch herself, hastily looking away and jumping into the air.

"Alright. It's time. I have to go say my goodbyes," Tooth sighed. "Always working." She buzzed toward the hallway, and when Jack didn't immediately follow, she turned back to find him looking after her almost expectantly.

"Jack?" She fluttered back toward him.

"I uh," he swallowed and ducked his head. "I didn't get a hug. Earlier."

Toothiana couldn't stop the giddy smile as she rushed forward. She didn't quite knock him off his feet like the first time, but she did spin him, just a little, tucking her face into his shoulder and squeezing him. She couldn't see him grinning, but she could sense it in the way his cold arms snaked around her, slipping beneath her beating wings to gently squeeze her back.

* * *

**Okay I'm like 90% sure I have cavities from writing this, and Tooth's not gonna be happy about that.**

**You'll notice I've done a teensy bit of editing to earlier chapters- mostly just moving author notes to the end, grammar here and there. But there's been some confusion over the order, so at the top of each chapter I basically put the _years-since-becoming-a-guardian. _Let me know how that works, I'm basically trying not to reorder the chapters themselves.**

**Again, thank you so much for reading, following, and reviewing! You guys make all this worthwhile!**


	8. Warren

_Year 2_

* * *

Jack couldn't even begin to imagine why on Earth Cottontail wanted him to visit.

But after putting it off for a solid year (during which he met North twice, Sandy three times, and Tooth a whopping six times out in the field), he decided he'd kept Bunny waiting long enough. It was close to Easter, but not too close. Just over a year since the party.

Jack took a deep breath. He reminded himself that all the bad stuff was behind them now, but it was a little daunting sometimes, saying "hey" to a grumpy 6-foot rabbit who, until recent years, was very much not your friend.

"Nope, gotta do this," he told himself, flitting into the warm air of the tunnel.

The warren was beautiful year-round, but the pre-easter growing season was an inspiring sight. No flowers had bloomed yet. The plant life was the faintest shade of baby-grass-green, and Jack grinned at the sight. He didn't often get to enjoy spring; he was so busy chasing winter wherever it went. He set down on the soft grass to walk the dirt paths, waving nonchalantly at the towering egg sentinels.

After a lovely stroll, he found Bunny, crouched on a rock with a brush in hand.

"Hey," Jack said to his back. One gray ear twitched back toward him, but the rabbit remained hunched over, _intensely_ concentrated in his egg-painting. Jack rolled his eyes.

"Dangit, cottontail," he muttered with a smirk, and formed a snowball in his hand.

He flung, and the snow hit home.

Bunny gave a harsh shiver as the offending substance fell off of his fur. Very gently the rabbit set down his brush and egg. Very slowly he stood and turned to the culprit (still posed from the throw, looking up through frosted bangs with wide blue eyes, the very picture of not-innocence).

Bunny forced a smile, though his eyes flashed with rage.

"Hi, Bunny!" Jack greeted exuberantly with a grin that would've made her-royal-featheriness faint.

"Frost," Bunny ground out through his tight smile. "Can I help you."

Jack rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly awkward at the lack of welcome. Was this a bad time?

"Well, uh... I thought... Tooth kind of said I should visit you. Or something. That you wanted me to ah..." He hefted his staff and took a hesitant step backward. "But y'know what, you're busy, I'm busy, we'll catch up at the next m–"

"Oi, Frost," Bunny interrupted, "at the party, ya mean? That was almost a whole year ago!"

Jack shrugged and nodded.

"Well, nice o' ya to show up!" Bunny clapped him hard on the shoulder, to his surprise, and then added sharply, "Mate!"

Jack stumbled back a little from the attention. Bunny's gruff demeanor faded quickly to... remorse?

"Ah, well you know how it is." Jack tried to laugh off the shift in the atmosphere. "Time flies when you're around forev–_what_."

Bunny had pulled him into a fierce hug.

"Jack I 'aven't gotten the chance to apologize yet." Jack started pushing back against him, but the rabbit would not relent.

"Ok, no, this is ridiculous. I'm over it, and you guys need to stop wallowing. Seriously."

"No, Jack, I need to do this. Because I'm such a fruit loop an' I'm too proud to admit it. I'm sorry, mate."

"Listen, fuzzy," Jack said, still struggling against the embrace, "it's not yours or anyone else's fault that Old Man Moon forgot about me for all those years. It's _fine_, okay?" Finally he resigned, settling his chin over the pooka's fluffy shoulder. "Well, maybe not _fine_," he admitted. "But it's better now."

"I was still an arse for bringin' it up that way. An' for, y'know. Nearly clockin' ya in the head."

"Hey, I probably deserved it just for being stupid," Jack said as Bunny finally released him. Jack made a show of pulling rabbit hair out of his mouth. "Okay if I get a hairball later..."

"Jack."

"No, but, in all seriousness." Jack stopped and looked at his feet. "Thanks. I mean, you're forgiven." He made a vague gesture of absolution. Bunny chuckled at him.

"Hah, sorry, I'm still learning the whole emotions-and-interacting-with-people thing."

"No problem, mate."

"Just promise me no more of this, okay?"

"No more of what?"

"All this remorse crap. I already talked to Tooth about it and I can't have everyone dwell on it, I'm ready to move on. Or else."

"Or else?"

"Or else I'll throw more snowballs at you." Jack pointed a stern finger at him.

"Fair enough," Bunny agreed. "So you've been talkin' ta Tooth, then."

"Well, yeah," Jack said, nervous about the sudden subject derailment. "What about it?"

"Ya see her often?"

"We bump into each other sometimes," Jack deflected.

"At the tooth palace, ya mean?"

"Ach-pff-_no, _out in the field, of course."

"But ya visited her."

"Yeah, I've been around a couple times."

Bunny _mhmm_ed.

"What?"

"Nothin, Frost! Just worth mentionin' that..." He trailed off.

"That _what_, Bunny?"

"That she's _keen_ on ya."

"_Yeah_, Bunny, I've noticed," Jack responded with a twinge of annoyance.

"An' you seem a little _keen _on her yourself."

"No! We're friends, that's all!" He glared at the ground because "friend" already seemed like the Wrong Word to Use. "Friends hug. And talk about stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Yes. Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"_Friend_ stuff, Cottontail!" Jack grumped, and itched his cheek, which was suddenly warm.

"Yeah, whateva you say," Bunny challenged, "_Suzie Snowflake._"

Jack stopped and gared up at him; there was an evil twinkle in the rabbit's green eyes.

"_What_. Did you just call me."

Bunny couldn't really help it. He burst into uncontrollable laughter, doubling over and slapping his furry knees. Jack could only stare, partly offended and partly... _impressed_ that Bunny could come up with a nickname at least as horrifying as 'kangaroo.'

He didn't miss his chance, though, when Bunny stamped his feet in mirth. Jack quickly iced the dirt path below them, causing the rabbit to slip, flail, and land in an ungraceful heap.

"_Oi!_"

Jack let out a laugh of his own and tore off into the warren. Bunny tore off right after him.

It didn't take long for Bunny to overtake him, pouncing and pinning him with one large foot.

"An what did I tell ya about racin' rabbits?" he said smugly, lifting Jack by the hood.

"Yeah, yeah, _laugh it up_, furball," Jack teased. "If I were out in the open with the wind, I bet I could beat you."

"Keep dreamin', Frost. Besides, usin' the wind? That's _cheating._" The rabbit dropped him in front of the North America tunnel. "Now off with ya. I've got work to do."

"Aww, come on, Cottontail! Tag was fun, wasn't it?"

"An' you should 'ave anotha go at it when I'm less busy."

"Yeah, you seem really up to your ears in work right now," Jack jibed.

"Get out o' my warren, Frost. I finally apologized, I hafta go heal my wounded pride," Bunny admitted, and then added in a low, threatening voice, "Hurry up, or I'll hug ya again."

Jack laughed loudly and darted up the tunnel before Bunny could make another grab at him.

* * *

**Heeeeeeeeyyyy so it's been a while! Sorry about that! Also sorry about _this__._ I meant to do something really sweet for Jack/Tooth week, but this scene was begging to be written, and here we are!**

**Thank you so much for reading! Reviews and critiques are, as always, appreciated!**

**(Oh and thank you all for your reviews so far, I read each one and you're all beautiful and I promise you guys some fluff soon. THE FLUFF. IT'S COMING.)**


	9. Closer

_Year 5_

* * *

Tooth tackles him in midair. She squeezes him tightly before letting go to buzz around him once, twice. Jack follows her dizzy movements with a grin.

"Found you!" she chirps. "My gosh, it's been a year! Why haven't you visited?"

It takes him too long to come up with his sheepish reply, so she continues. "Oh, well it doesn't matter, I've been so busy anyway, how have you been? The usual, I suppose."

Jack laughs at her nervous chatter and squeezes her hand, which has somehow slipped into his. It takes a moment for him to question the ease of the gesture: _when had they started holding hands?_

"But why aren't you saying anything? Is something wrong–oh it's because I'm talking too much again. I do that when I'm nervous." She bites her lip and shrugs apologetically. "A year is a long time."

Jack shakes his head.

"Not really. Time flies when you're having fun." He smirks at her.

She looks down to consider their entwined fingertips.

"It seems like a long time to me," she mumbles, so quietly Jack almost misses the subtle admission there.

He doesn't like the way her warm eyes carry sadness. He breaks away from her, diving into the woods below.

Her eyes follow him, her empty hand closing around wind and missing his. Tooth draws it to her breast to warm the chill. She doesn't have to wait long before a snowball sails out of nowhere and pelts her in the face.

Jack's magic glitters around her vision. The snow falls gently away from her face, and Tooth can't help but imagine cool lips ghosting kisses across her cheek. She blushes dreamily for a moment. Jack hovers before her with a curious expression, one hand behind his back.

"That's an unusual reaction," he muses. Tooth unconsciously licks her lips before she realizes exactly what just happened. She puts on a serious face, the _Queen-of-the-Tooth-Fairies_ face.

"..._Hey_."

Jack can tell she's not really angry, so he laughs and plants the snowball he'd been hiding right on her head, mushing it into her feathers. She squeals and pushes him away playfully.

"I am the _Queen_ of the–" _Splat! _–right on her face again. "Oh, that's it!"

She dives after him as he disappears below the treeline, laughing hysterically.

Tooth's snowballs are tiny, but her revenge is swift. Jack retaliates with ease. They are, after all, in _his_ domain.

Afterwards they flop backward into a snowdrift to catch their breath. Their laughter gently fades, and somehow his large hand finds hers in the snow.

Tooth sits up and leans over to tell him something, but forgets exactly what when she sees how close they are. Jack seems all but oblivious, expression cautiously innocent, posture relaxed. Tooth has to school her own face into something less excitable; she is, after all, supposed to be _dignified_.

He sees the way her mouth squirms, though.

"Tooth?"

She rises into the air. He follows. She looks around and bites her lip. She wants to get closer to him, but it's hard when she's so handsy, and he's so aloof. Tooth doesn't want to make him uncomfortable. But she also doesn't want to have to ask.

"Can I see your teeth?" she blurts instead, because it sounds a little more plausible than _Dearest Jack, would you mind terribly if I sniffed your hair and smothered your face with kisses_?

"Aww," Jack teases. "You really _did_ miss me. I'm touched, Tooth." He places his hand sarcastically over his heart; she's acutely aware of how superficial she must sound.

He smiles at her anyway, tilting his head up and opening his mouth, because he trusts her to hold his jaw, and poke, and prod, and _he wants to be closer, too_. Tooth places hands on his cheek, under his chin, loops a thumb over his lower incisors. It is neither graceful nor particularly intimate, but it's just enough touch, for him. Tooth nearly loses concentration when she realizes where his hands are. He gently holds her elbows, supporting her. Luckily she isn't standing, because the tenderness in the gesture makes her knees go weak.

"I swear, they're prettier every time I see them," she says to distract herself. "It looks like you took extra care of them."

"Ell, 'eah," he says casually, around her fingers. She releases him and draws back.

"Any particular reason?"

"Just trying to keep my teeth nice," he defends, caught in her smirk. Tooth notes his blush.

"How come?" she goads, unable to help herself.

"Dental hygiene is really important!" he sputters. She opens her mouth to tease him further, when they are interrupted by tiny voices on the wind.

"Oh, I've been found," she sighs, as twelve or so little fairies begin pulling at her hands and chattering at her indignantly. "Sorry, girls!"

The fairies chirp and squeak and point their little fingers at her. Toothiana is being scolded.

Jack squints at her.

"Wait, you didn't... sneak away from work just to see me, did you?"

"No!" she protests loudly, darting suddenly off into the sky before he can question her.

One fairy stays behind and pats Jack fondly on the nose.

"Hey, Baby Tooth." He smiles at the Tooth Fairy's retreating form while Baby Tooth settles on his shoulder.

They sit for a long while, watching the first notes of grey appear on the horizon while the last golden streaks of dreamsand trail away.

Jack's hand touches the feather in his pocket. Baby Tooth chirps questioningly at his dreamy smile. He shakes his head and stands.

"Come on, Baby Tooth, let's go ice over some windshields!"

The fairy settles happily against his neck while he takes off into the growing dawn.

* * *

**There we go! Hope this makes up for my absence and for the last chapter being such a letdown.**

**I intended to make it fluffier, but I just can't rush their relationship!**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing~**


	10. Gifts

_Year 6_

* * *

She had a collection of jewels and rare stones to rival the richest maharaja. She had silks and tapestries to make any royal jealous, and her ornate palace was an unknown wonder of the world. But of all the riches she owned, Toothiana valued her plumage most of all.

Jack had a sense of this, of course, with all the hullabaloo concerning the feather she'd given him. Which was only part of his panic when he saw the downy trail she left shimmering in the warm air.

He darted from platform to platform, chasing the feathers as they fluttered from above, following them down.

"Tooth? Tooth!" he called, dread building in his chest like... like ice.

He finally glimpsed her brightly colored figure, in the grotto.

"Oh, my feathers!" she was sighing.

"Tooth, what's going on? Are you losing believers?" Jack exclaimed, landing close to her and reaching out with uncertain hands as she touched down in the shallow water.

"Oh, hello, Jack," she said with a weak smile. "No, everything's fine." She brushed herself off. Jack's eyes bugged at the amount of down that came loose into the water.

"But you're... _molting_!" He crouched next to the pool so that his face was level with hers. "That's not normal!"

Tooth sighed and picked at herself, pouting when one of her longer tail feathers came away with little effort. She nodded to him and handed him the feather before sitting in the water to work on her arms and head.

Jack took the gift and thumbed the barbs, waiting for her explanation.

"It's just seasonal molting, that's all." She ducked her head briefly under the water. "It just means it's time for new feathers to come in. I hate to lose them, though!"

Jack watched in amusement as she scratched furiously at her scalp, sending several more jewel-toned feathers into the water. He rested his chin on his hand, cradling her feather with the other.

"What?" she demanded, when he snorted.

"Nothing! Nothing, I just thought," he shrugged, "I just thought it was something serious. And here it's just you getting into a tizzy–you _really_ like your feathers!"

"Yes, _Jack_," she snapped, "I really like my feathers. How would _you_ feel if something happened to your hoodie?"

Jack fell silent for a moment.

"Yeah, but... your feathers grow _back_. S'different from clothing."

"I guess so," she relented with a sigh.

Seeing his downcast expression, Tooth hovered over the water with a mischievous glint in her eye. When he met her gaze, she fluffed and shook herself, her wings buzzing so that all the water landed on him.

"Hey!" Jack laughed, holding up a hand to defend himself. Tooth grinned and settled herself next to him while he brushed the newly formed ice off of his face and shoulders. He handed her the feather, to which Tooth shook her head.

"No, you keep it. I don't need it anymore."

"Well, you seemed _awfully_ sad to see it go," he teased.

"I can't help it, I love my feathers!" She took a moment to smooth the down on her knees before adding quietly, "My feathers make me beautiful."

Jack disguised a laugh as a cough. She glared at him.

"I've said it before, I hope someday we can all be as modest as you." She lightly smacked him on the arm.

"Isn't it true, though?" Jack paused and stared while Tooth looked down hastily. The silence stretched to an awkward proportion. "You don't have to answer–"

"Tooth."

She swallowed her words and concentrated, on sitting up regally straight, on ignoring her feelings on the matter. _She_ didn't think herself a freak, but did Jack...?

"It's not your feathers that make you beautiful, you just... _are_," he said, quietly.

Tooth's head snapped over just in time to see Jack's snapping away, looking up and around, anywhere except her face. He was completely unaware of how she was _smiling_ at him, and blushing very brightly. She moved her hand to cover his where it rested on the ground.

Jack grinned stupidly and looked over. Her amethyst eyes twinkled at him encouragingly, so he turned his hand over. Her tiny hand rested sweetly in his palm. Tooth opened her mouth to say something.

A dozen irritated chirps ruined their moment. Tooth jumped to the air, sending a frantic cascade of feathers toward him.

"Yes, yes, girls, I'm coming! Sorry, that was a bit long, wasn't it? Yes, yes, okay, okay!" she babbled, looking at each one individually before rushing off without a goodbye.

Jack sat up, brushed feathers off his clothes, and spat them out of his mouth. His hand went into his pocket, where the green feather rested that she'd given him several years ago. He smiled, his heart beating pleasantly from her touch.

Much later, he would hide the long tail feather at the pond in Burgess. That was the second gift the Tooth Fairy had given him–both more precious and more beautiful than any expensive gem.

If he had any doubts about her feelings for him, at this point they were very, very small.

* * *

**_*casually sneaks back into this fic*_ AH SORRY I've been getting distracted by other fandoms. This fic is nowhere NEAR dead, though, so be patient with me!**

**Thank you for reading and reviewing~**

**I live for reviews, y'know.**


	11. Mutual

_Year 7_

* * *

As it was, North's meetings were generally very short, very casual, and very much an excuse to have a party. Some years, he would host for the other spirits' holidays, when he had the time–and he _always_ had the time. When it came to time, North was a wizard.

Most years, however, he would have his after-Christmas bash, and the place would be _packed_, floor-to-ceiling, with spirits, yetis, elves, and noise.

This year was no exception, no expenses spared, halls-decked and overcrowded with activity. Gentle snow fell from the ceiling, courtesy of one Jack Frost, and Bunny provided the greenery, which hung from every archway and window. The scent of pine and peppermint wafted through the air like magic.

Mistletoe, too, hung over a few doorways, much to the amusement of certain party-guests.

"Oi, Jack, wait."

"Huh?" Jack paused where he stood.

"Just stay right there, mate." Bunny held up his paws. Jack didn't like his smirk, or the way Sandy was giving him a thumb's up.

"Is there something going to fall on my head, or..."

As Jack looked up, he was bowled over by the flying force of about twenty tooth fairies, each poking him with their tiny beaks and making kissy-noises.

"Ladies, please!" he laughed, struggling to get up from his sprawling position on the floor.

"Alright girls. Give him some air." The cloud parted and a strong, feathery arm helped him back to his feet.

"Toothie, come on!" goaded North as he walked in. "You were so _close!_"

The others seemed to get a good laugh out of that one; Jack raised an eyebrow at her decidedly not-amused expression. She glared back despite her blush. North, Bunny, and Sandy seemed to take the hint, though, and dispersed to allow them some room.

"Hiya, Toothie," Jack greeted with his usual smirk.

"Hello, Jack. Have you been flossing?"

He rolled his eyes as she invaded his personal space.

"'On't I 'et a 'ug?"

"I'll have to think about it," Tooth sing-songed, forcing his jaw open wider before letting him go. Behind her, several fairies swooned, dropping several inches in the air.

"Well, dentist? Do I pass?" He shot her a winning smile, which she visibly basked in.

"Yeah, I guess so." She tugged him into an embrace. Jack comfortably set his chin on her shoulder, feeling the breeze of her humming wings.

After a moment, they both seemed to realize they'd been hugging too long. Tooth jumped away, and Jack rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"Right, so–"

"We should go see–"

"Yeah."

"Yep."

"Hot chocolate sounds good, doesn't it?" Tooth prompted.

"Yes, absolutely! Why don't I uh... why don't I go get us some?"

Tooth beamed at him.

"That would be lovely, thanks!"

Jack grinned and headed into the happy noise of the party; the hot chocolate table was somewhere in the crowd.

After dodging Yetis, elves, and nature-spirits alike, Jack successfully secured two steaming mugs and made his way back, careful not to spill the delicious liquid.

In the hall, the music was loud and disorienting. He could hear North's drunk, booming laughter over it all. Jack grinned and looked toward the noise, jostling a pair of spirits kissing intensely under another sprig of mistletoe.

"Whoa!" He barely kept the mugs from spilling over. "Excuse me, could I just..."

The great red wing hiding the couple's faces pulled away and folded neatly behind Cupid's back.

"Oh hey, Cupi–_Sandy_?!" Jack did a double-take at the flushed face of the Sandman, looking more than comfortable in Cupid's embrace. Sandy grinned dreamily. The winged-woman tossed back her cloud of red curls and smiled sweetly.

"Jack Frost," she greeted.

"An-namore... right?" Jack said hesitantly, still thrown by the weirdness of the situation. Cupid nodded and laughed raucously; obviously Sandy wasn't the only one hitting the eggnog.

Said Sandman made a shooing motion with his hands, frowning at Jack.

"Okay, okay!" the teenager laughed, skirting around them to let them get back to... whatever that was.

He shook his head. North's parties could really be something.

* * *

After Jack left to get them drinks, Tooth busied herself ordering fairies this way and that. Thankfully, there wasn't much of a workload that night, but chores were chores and had to be done sooner or later.

As she sent off the last fairy, Bunny loped in, sipping an eggnog. They shared a brief smile before Tooth found a spot to sit.

"Want some?" Bunny asked, offering her his drink.

"Oh, no, that's okay. Jack's getting me some hot chocolate." She smiled at her friend. "Thank you, though–what?"

Bunny was chuckling at her.

"Ohh, sheila."

Tooth's expression slipped into a frown.

"Don't 'sheila' me. What?"

"I just find it cute, is all."

"Cute?"

"You. Both o' ya."

"Bunny..." she warned.

"So are ya togetha yet, or–"

"_Bunny_."

"I'm just askin, Sheila, no need to get touchy."

"_Touchy_, Bunny? It's none of your business. Why do you even keep asking me about that!"

"Aww, come on, Tooth. You know I just like to tease."

Tooth only huffed in response.

"Well quit it, it's not funny."

"Listen, Tooth, if ya like 'im so much–"

"A little," she corrected.

"An' it's mutual–"

"_Mutual!_" she repeated in shock, and loudly.

Jack paused in the hallway and listened, carefully holding their drinks.

"It is _not_–" Tooth struggled to collect her wits, calm her blazing cheeks. "It is not _mutual!_ How would _you_ know that, anyway?" she continued in a whisper.

"–I just think you two outta be togetha by now, is all."

"_Together!_" Toothiana wheezed, voice rising in pitch as she jumped into the air. She paced. "Bunny, you _know_ I do _not_ have time for a relationship! It's hard enough trying to keep on task with the most _hectic job of all of you_ without getting distracted, and then Jack comes around and it's _impossible_ to focus on _anything_, and–Bunny?" The pooka was frantically trying to signal her. "What?" She heard the sharp _clink_ of two mugs being set down on the tabletop, and turned, horrified. Jack's expression was carefully blank.

"Jack! Th-thanks!" Tooth said, voice quivering just a little. He didn't respond.

"Oi, Jack, have a seat, wouldja? Me 'n Tooth were just–"

"Actually," Jack interrupted, and his voice sounded oddly thick, "I'm not feeling too thirsty. I think I'm going to just..."

He backed up hesitantly, avoiding the two pairs of eyes that followed. Then he took his staff from where it leaned against the wall.

"Jack?" Tooth asked in a very small voice. He paused for only a second before darting away. Bunny's ears pricked at the sound of the skylight opening and closing again.

Tooth slowly turned to him.

"Tooth. I am so, so sorry." Her feathered brow knit together while she glared at the cocoa, suddenly hating the beverage.

"For what?" she finally spat. "I was the one with the big mouth. Always talking too much, _tch_." She sank back into her seat, dropping her head into her hands. Bunny leaned across the table.

"But ya would've said any of that if I wasn't needlin' ya. I had no idea he was right there."

Tooth shook her head.

"I'm sorry for teasin' ya," Bunny continued. "Both of ya."

The queen laughed harshly and looked up at him.

"Both of us?"

Bunnymund reached forward to touch her cheek gently with one paw and nodded, and smiled warmly.

"That's how I know, Tooth. That's how I know it's mutual." Tooth blinked at him for a long moment, and then her brow set as she came to a conclusion. She reached across to steal Bunny's eggnog, and downed it on a few gulps. The queen stretched out her muscles before jumping into the air.

"Alright," she said with new confidence. "I've got a blizzard to brave."

"You've got this, Tooth," Bunny encouraged, watching her dart into the air and after Jack's windy trail.

* * *

**pssssst, I'm back, no throwing things, I promise it will all get better.**

**Cupid Annamore appears courtesy of not-the-milk, who is awesome and writes a good oc.**

**Love you all, love your feedback! See you next week!**


	12. Confessions

_Year 7_

* * *

Jack tore off across the wintry landscape. Behind him raged a snowstorm of epic proportions, an echo of his wildly churning thoughts.

He had horribly miscalculated, hadn't he? He'd thought she enjoyed his visits, and honestly, if it was only once or twice a year, was that so bad?

"Yes, yes it is," he answered himself. Tooth was always _extremely_ busy, and Jack was just annoying her. She said it herself–he was a nuisance! He distracted her from her very important work, all because he was _lonely_. And all this time he'd thought she had a crush on him. Maybe, all this time, maybe it was just _him_ getting attached to the first person to show him a little warmth.

"Pathetic," Jack muttered. He headed to the one place he could ever think straight, and struggled to breathe evenly again. He couldn't very well bring a blizzard to Burgess.

It was late into the night by the time he sent the storm careening off over the mountains and touched down at his pond. There was nothing in the silence except his own breath. Not even the Man in the Moon dared peek out of the clouds; this was one rare time Jack _wanted_ to be alone.

He breathed.

Tooth didn't like him.

He'd been so sure, she'd even _said_...

He shook his head.

Why should this upset him? She was entitled not to like him, that was fine, and they would still be friends, as they always had been. And Jack was just as happy being friends with her, wasn't he? _Was_ he?

"_Am_ I?" he murmured, as his palm went flat to his chest to calm his heart, beating suddenly, intensely fast.

Love and family were distant memories, shadows of things he'd known when he was warm. It had been so _long_ since he felt warm.

And when he was with Tooth... he would begin to feel it, a little bit of the summer that radiated off of her.

Jack stared down at his own shocked face, reflected in the ice at his feet. He touched his own flushed cheek and gasped.

Was this–?

Was _he–?_

The realization settled like cold water in his lungs. The one with the crush–maybe even this whole time–was _him_.

He was so busy with his emotional turmoil that he didn't notice the humming notes of beating wings, or the scrape of hands as they sifted through snow.

The snowball hit the back of his head and fell off with a wet splat.

Jack blinked as he stood up straight. He touched the back of his head and frowned.

"Jack."

"Yeah?"

"Can we talk?"

"About what?"

Tooth sighed. He listened as her tiny feet touched down on the ice, and the quiet was palpable without the hum of her wings. _She only ever lands when it's important,_ he remembered.

"Are you okay?"

It was Jack's turn to sigh, and he turned, to reassure her, to smile for her. His facial muscles felt a little dead.

"I'm fine." To reinforce his lie, he met her eyes; Tooth didn't buy it.

Before he could react, she flitted up and forward to close the distance between them. She drew him close and squeezed. There was that warm feeling...

"Tooth," he protested, so she gripped him tighter. On any other day he would have relished in the contact. "Stop touching me," he bit out, after the struggling didn't work. He felt her shake her head.

"No," she said firmly, in her Queen-of-the-Tooth-Fairies voice. "You need touch."

"Ugh, Tooth, we've talked about the guilt thing, and–"

"This isn't guilt. I miss you."

Jack stilled.

"I miss you and I care about you a lot, and whatever you heard me say today was just an excuse to shut Bunny up."

"Bunny," he repeated numbly. "Right."

"I don't even remember what I said anymore!" She laughed, frustrated. Her fists clenched against his shoulder blades.

"I'm a nuisance," Jack supplied helpfully. "I distract you from your work." _And it's not mutual_.

"Yes, Jack, you distract me sometimes," she explained patiently. "I find you very _distracting!_" Her breath shook when she exhaled. "Because I like you. I like you a lot. You know that. I've said so."

Her fists opened against his back, smoothing over his shoulders. Gradually Jack could breathe again, despite how hard she was squeezing him, and for a long moment, that's all the two of them did. They _breathed_. Finally, Jack swallowed the tight lump of doubt in his throat and pressed his forehead to her shoulder.

"I'm sorry for avoiding you," he mumbled. "I'm sorry for running away, because that was _really_ cowardly. But I couldn't help it. I had to, because..." Jack swallowed, held his breath; it was time to take the plunge. "Because I like you, too, a lot, and I'm scared _stupid_. I don't know what to do with that or how to act or-or anything, because this is completely new, I don't–I don't know anything about feelings, or kissing, or–" He swallowed. "And I'm terrified because you're so much older and wiser, and I'm afraid I'll do something wrong, or say something stupid! I feel like such a _kid_ around you, sometimes!"

His whole body was shaking, but Tooth's grip held him together.

"I make _you_ feel like a kid?" she repeated frantically. "Jack, look at _me_, I'm supposed to be a _queen_, and when I see you–when I even _think _ of you sometimes, I just turn into this blushing babbling _mess_, because I like you so much I can't stand it! And I have to act reserved and mature and set an example for my girls, when all I want to be doing is just _swarming_ you with affection, the way they do! So I have to smile and stand back, because I don't want to smother you, because that would push you away, because I _know_ you don't need that kind of attention, and..."

Tooth gasped for breath and pulled away to look at him. Her grip loosened, but Jack gently held her elbows, just like when she checked his teeth. In the midst of their embrace, they had lifted off the ice and floated together in the dim light. The clouds were dissipating.

Jack tilted his head at her and frowned.

"You don't have time for a relationship," he reminded her, surprised when she smiled at him, _brightly_. His heart fluttered. Jack had never seen a smile so white, as moonlight peeked through the clouds, and he wondered, distantly, if this is what she felt when he smiled at _her_.

"You know," she said, "I was thinking about it and I realized something." She tilted her feathered face skyward, catching the smiling face of the moon. "Jack, we have all the time in the _world_."

He blinked at her, and smiled slowly at the light twinkling in her eyes, and realized she was right.

The untold possibility of years, centuries, eons stretched out before them. They had _eternity_. They could take their time. They were busy, always busy, but their little steps to get to this point _mattered_, and when he strung all their small moments together... they _did _have all the time in the world.

Toothiana's eyes found his and they fascinated each other for a moment–amethysts and sapphires. Jack inhaled to tell her, that she was perfect, that her eyes sparkled, that this one moment in his long life was perfect.

"You always spin me," he said instead.

Tooth glanced around and blushed, conscious of the way they floated in the air, as they always did, turning in a gentle circle. She let go of him shyly and they drifted apart. When moments later they were still turning together, at the same pace, they reached for one another again.

Her arms slipped around his neck as his hands found her waist, an echo of their first embrace.

"So yes, in other news, I like you. As if you didn't notice," Tooth scoffed at herself. "I'm so _obvious_."

"And I like you back," Jack admitted. His hands still shook a little. "That's, uh, new. I just kind of figured that out before you got here."

"Does this mean you'll visit me more often?" she pleaded.

"Not if I'm _distracting_ you," Jack teased, and he winked at her.

Tooth shook her head and drew him into another hug, pressing their cheeks together.

"I have to go soon," she said after a while. "I can already hear Baby Tooth reprimanding me."

Jack chuckled, though he was sad to pull away.

"How did you know where I was, anyway?" He smirked, and leaned on his staff. She grinned back.

"You're easy; I followed the storm." She brushed ice crystals out of the feathers on her shoulders, though they were probably less from the storm and more from Jack's freezing embrace. "Besides, I always know where you are. Speaking of, here comes the network."

Overhead, two tiny voices chirped angrily. Tooth waved them off.

"Mom's busy. Five more minutes," she told them. Jack snickered. Tooth fluttered forward to catch his hand in both of hers.

"You don't even get _Christmas_ off?" She pouted and shook her head, but then a mischievous glint appeared in her eye.

"_Unless_ you want to come along and help me collect teeth. Like old times."

Jack raised an eyebrow at her, at the way she was tugging him subtly toward Burgess.

"Your highness, are you asking me out on a date?"

Her resounding laughter lit up the wintry stillness.

"Do you accept, or should I find some other gentleman?"

"A date with the queen?" He bowed extravagantly and pressed a cold kiss to her knuckles. "I _absolutely_ accept."

She slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow.

"Shall we, then?"

"Lead the way, Your Majesty."

And Jack laughed breathlessly, _giddy_ at this bright, warm feeling, this new thing that had opened up between them.

* * *

**And there you have it.**

**Thank you for being patient with my stupidly slow updates!**

**Love you all~**


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